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When Mike McClendon was sent down for Vinnie Chulk at the end of April, smart money was on McClendon returning to the big leagues before long. Thanks to Marco Estrada landing on the 15-day disabled list with a quad strain, McClendon is getting the call back up to Milwaukee after roughly a month back in Triple-A.

Since returning to Nashville, McClendon has surrendered 9 earned runs in 11.2 innings, but 7 of those 9 came in his first three outings. He’s only allowed 2 earned runs in his past 7 innings. With the bullpen in bad shape after throwing 28.1 of the last 61 innings, McClendon should be a fresh arm capable of going multiple innings by the time the team starts play against Arizona on Friday night. His last appearance was Wednesday, when he threw a scoreless inning against Las Vegas. He’s thrown 2 innings in 4 of his past 10 appearances for Nashville.

It would appear signs are pointing towards Manny Parra (at least temporarily) taking Estrada’s spot in the rotation, but there’s no need for the team to announce plans until Tuesday. It’s entirely possible the team is waiting to see how things play out over the weekend — they could be planning on Parra taking Tuesday’s start, but if the bullpen needs to log serious innings once again, it would be easy enough to make another move before Tuesday’s game. Mike Fiers, for example, is making the start for Nashville tonight, meaning he’d be on normal rest for Tuesday. Making the call for McClendon now at least gives the team flexibility through the weekend.